Covering Black Friday

Here is some early coverage of Black Friday that stands out because of different story angles than the usual coverage:

Cindy Stauffer of the Lancaster News Era in Pennsylvania is writing about women who are out shopping for themselves.

She wrote, “But what’s wrong with picking up a little something for ourselves? Welcome to a holiday tradition called self-gifting. Polls show that anywhere from a half to two-thirds of shoppers do it, enticed by bargains or by the simple impulse to indulge yourself while you’re armed with all those credit cards and cash.

“Self-gifting was a part of shopping for, well, just about everyone today, according to an informal poll taken at Park City Center in the early hours of Black Friday.”

Mark Reynolds of the Providence Journal writes about how little work — outside of retailing — gets done on Black Friday.

He wrote, “Bob Eubank, executive director of the Northeast Human Resources Association, cited a 2002 survey that polled 337 New England companies and found that 83 percent of them recognized the day after Thanksgiving as a holiday.

“‘From a company’s perspective it’s a dead day,’ Eubank said. ‘A lot of employees who do work will be less productive.'”

And Kate Prahlad of Capital News Service writes about how the day after Thanksgiving means a booming business for plumbers.

Prahlad wrote, “‘Clog culprits’ include ‘all the traditionally served items: celery, potato peels, poultry skins and bones, pasta, all the starchy stuff,’ Abrams said, but the biggest problems are caused by grease and cooking oil that Thanksgiving chefs pour down the garbage disposal.

“The days after Thanksgiving can pay off especially big for plumbers, and the long weekend can bring an extra $500,000 in revenue, Abrams said.

“‘Almost all of our service technicians have to work on Black Friday,’ Abrams said. ‘They know not to ask off of work that day.'”

Me? I’m staying away from the malls. But my wife was up at 3 a.m. this morning to hit J.C. Penney when the doors opened at 4.